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Festa Italiana “Tutti Frutti” at the Hermitage’s Youth Centre

Published on 24 of December 2018

On 22 December 2018, the General Staff building became the venue of the traditional New Year fancy-dress party for students and participants of the State Hermitage Youth Centre’s programmes. The choicer of theme was influenced by two Italian exhibitions that have recently opened in the museum: “Abstract Art in Italy. Achille Perilli” and “Piero della Francesca. Monarch of Painting”. This also explains the title given to the event – Festa Italiana “Tutti Frutti”.

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The Italian celebration of life that took over the General Staff building for a whole December evening reflected almost everything that the imagination conjures up on hearing the word “Italian”: Italian Renaissance, Italian Futurism, Italian cinema and music, fashion and even which sauce goes chiefly with one or other kind of pasta.
The evening began with a quiz. After the students solved tricky riddles and answered questions, everyone who wanted was invited to show their Italian-style costumes and to take part in a parade. All sorts of people appeared on the Main Staircase of the Atrium: Dante Alighieri, Adriano Celentano, mafiosi and their molls, the Mario Brothers – four of them, Madonnas with and without Child, dashing gondoliers, personages from paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Titian, and, of course, Monica Bellucci! From this large and diverse cast of characters, a king and queen of the evening were selected.

Then came humorous performances on a theme by the various sections of the Students’ Club, each of which had been instructed to come up with a pasta recipe that would best illustrate the activities of their club. The recipes were presented in a range of different ways – from video to performance art. Besides that, the students devised mime shows for their guests on the subjects of Italian artworks in the Hermitage collection.

After the formal part of the evening, there were more competitions for the guests in the Atrium, including an architectural task “Assemble a Palazzo” and another on abstract art “Give your own title to selected works by Achille Perilli”, putting together your own portrait in the style of Arcimboldo and participating in a draw with some nice presents to be won and no losers.

The party ended, as is traditional, with a DJ set by Ladomir Zelinsky.